PESHAWAR: Higher Education Department (HEC), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has asked public sector universities in the province to own certain measures to overcome “rising financial deficit” in the institutions.
A recent letter by the department to this effect has sparked strong criticism at the universities’ level as staff and faculties of the universities, mostly the oldest ones, have rejected the suggested “reforms”.
An emergency meeting of different bodies of teachers and staff of the University of Peshawar on Monday observed that the letter was apparently issued to all the public sector universities, but its prime target was the UoP, which has already shown its inability to pay full salaries and pensions to its employees.
The meeting was chaired by Peshawar University Teachers’ Association’s (PUTA) President Dr Fazle Nasir and attended by PUTA general secretary Dr Zakirullah Jan, Class-III President Abdul Malik, Class-IV President Imdad and others.
The meeting expressed concern over the HED letter and termed it an expression of the wish by the department, rather than directives.The participants of the meeting said that the competent authorities of the university were its syndicate, senate and statutory bodies which should respond to the letter. The university’s response should be verified by the respective bodies and teachers of the university.
The meeting urged the government to focus attention on the promotion of education instead of creating hurdles in the process. The government, instead of overcoming the financial issues of the universities, has been creating more problems for them, the participants observed.
The provincial government has been treating the universities in the province in a manner different than other parts of the country. New experiments with higher education in the province are adversely affecting universities in the province, the participants of the meeting declared.
They announced to hold a dialogue at the national and provincial universities’ level for the assistance of the HED.Dr Fazle Nasir said that a general body meeting the PUTA would be held on Wednesday to discuss the half payment of salaries to the university employees.
According to the HED letter, the universities have been asked to delink pay scales from the basic pay scale scheme and university pay scale based on defined contributions.Pension scheme having no pension liability for the university shall be implemented for all future initial recruitments.
The letter said for the purpose, the universities shall make necessary amendments.The schools run by various universities should be reformed concerning fee structure and staff quotas to achieve financial break.
It would be appropriate if a separate board of governors for the schools should be constituted to achieve academic, financial and administrative efficiency in the school performance.The BoG shall work under the statutory framework and other resources meant for the higher education shall not be expended on meeting shortfall of the constituent schools, the letter stated.
The letter stated that the house subsidy and requisitions being paid at present shall be paid at the provincial government rates.The universities that are paying only house rent allowances at the provincial government rates and not house subsidy and requisition, shall continue with the same, it added.Medical allowance in its current form will be abolished and shall
be paid at the provincial government rates.
Maintenance costs, including repair, security, and other facilities to be fully recovered from the employees provide with accommodation by all the institutions on the university campus.The universities will be assisted in the process of exploring new avenues of financial resources, including renting out academic blocks to other institutions for academic purposes in the afternoon, the increasing number of self-support seats in the academic programmes with high market demands, the launch of new academic programmes and diplomas on the market-based fee structure, the letter concluded.
Universities in the province are facing serious financial problems. The most serious situation is faced by the University of Peshawar, Agriculture University Peshawar and Gomal University Dera Ismail Khan, which are the oldest institutions in the province and are facing the burden of pensions.
The University of Peshawar recently expressed its inability to pay full salaries and pensions to its employees and pensioners for the month of January.The government and Higher Education Commission Islamabad have turned a deaf ear to the universities’ demand for a bailout package.
For the UoP, the provincial government had promised a fund amounting to Rs250 million, of which Rs150 millions were released which enabled the university to pay salaries for a few months.The remaining Rs100 million have been linked with the introduction of the reforms.
